First Wicket of the County Season: England Captain b Student 0

Michael Vaughan was particularly anxious to begin the new first-class season with an avalanche of runs after a frustrating Test return in New Zealand where he averaged only 20.50. But nine minutes into the opening game it all went horribly awry when the England captain fell for nought at Headingley to a university bowler nicknamed Sicknote.

Harry Gurney, the Leeds and Bradford UCCE opening bowler, had Vaughan caught at the wicket from only the sixth ball he received. Gurney is a 21-year-old who made his Leicestershire championship debut at the end of last season against Northamptonshire. Now that Sicknote has made his impact, Vaughan will hope he takes the rest of the season off. On full pay, naturally.

Vaughan's duck revived memories of the most famous duck of all by a Yorkshire and England opening batsman against university opposition. When Geoffrey Boycott made nought against Oxford University at The Parks 30 years ago the tale had it that he spent much of the rest of the day moaning in disbelief with a towel over his head. Boycott insists that it is apocryphal but it can safely be assumed that it caused him greater psychological turmoil than Vaughan suffered yesterday.

The scourge of Boycott was Stephen Wookey, a medium-paced bowler from Wiltshire who played first-class cricket for Oxford and Cambridge but never entered the county game, even though Boycott probably had nightmares that he had. The legend of Wookey Hole has it that the witch of Wookey lives at the lowest point of its caves and turns everything to stone. The witch revealed itself that day and Boycott was turned to stone in an instant.

Vaughan revealed at Headingley on Tuesday that he wants to drop down from opener and bat at No3 for England this summer, primarily because he believes that the extra burden of captaincy makes it impossible to clear your mind entirely before opening an innings. "You have to be professional and draw a line beyond which point you concentrate entirely on your own innings," he said earlier this year. "A few minutes extra to compose yourself when you are captain can make all the difference."

As he does not captain Yorkshire, he could not even use that as a contributory factor yesterday.